Egg carton forming machine



Oct. 22, 1968 A. E. RANDLES, JR 3,406,513

EGG CARTON FORMING MACHINE Filed Jan. 25, 1967 10 Sheets-Sheet l Usd-1 1: I [El- 1 INVENTOR.

Al/l/ f. NDLE Oct. 22, 1968 A. E, RANDLES, JR 3,406,613

EGG CARTON FORMING MACHINE Filed Jan. 25. 1967 lO Sheets-Sheet 2 PIE--2- INVENTOR.

F' I E- E. //U E. NDLES Oct. 22, 1968 A. E. RANDLES, JR 3,406,513

EGG CARTON FORMING MACHINE lO Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Jan. 25, 1967 iNvENToR.

' ARTHUR 5. EANDLES T'ONEYS Oct. 22, 1968 A. E, RANDLES, .m

EGG CARTON FORMING MACHINE lO Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Jan. 25, 1967 5 E RW. oN WAH E K v mf m T .k .A

ATTORNEYS Oct. 22, 1968 A. E. RANDLES, .JR

EGG CARTON FORMING MACHINE lO Sheets-Sheetv 5 Filed Jan. 25. 196'? BY Mgg 5mm ATTORNEYS Oct. 22, 1968 A. E. aANnLa-zs, .JR

EGG CARTON FORMING MACHINE lO Sheets-Sheet 6 l Filed Jan. 25, 1967 I NVE NTOR. Amm, f. 4P/:m55

@w53 Slik/Mw FIE- ll- Oct. 22, 1968 A. E, RANDLES, JR 3,406,513

EGG CARTON FORMING MACHINE Filed Jan. 25, 196'? 10 Sheets-Sheet 7 INVENTOR. //l/ f. M11/0h55 Oct. 22, 1968 A. E. RANDLES, .IR 3,406,613

EGG CARTON FORMING MACHINE 10 Sheets-Sheet 8 Filed Jan. 25, 1967 ATTORNEYS Oct. 22, 1968 A. E. RANDLES, .JR 3,406,613

EGG CARTON FORMING MACHINE 10 Sheets-Sheet 9 Filed Jan. 25, 1967 INVENTOR.

Oct. 22, 1968 A. E. RANDLES, JR 3,406,613

EGG CARTON FORMING MACHINE Filed Jan. 25, 1967 lO Sheets-Sheet 1o RM. W 0N. E mm ,m M wf m ,.Nlclm E w w 0^ :S A Y v B g ENQ ENG United States Patent O 3,406,613 EGG CARTON FORMING MACHINE Arthur E. Randles, Jr., 707 Warrington Road, Redwood City, Calif. 94063 Filed Jan. 25, 1967, Ser. No. 611,617 7 Claims. (Cl. 9.3-37) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A machine for erecting egg cartons from pre-formed blanks including a slide that moves along a table and carries two pair of pivotally mounted fingers, one to feed a carton blank from a hopper to an assembly station and another to deliver an erected carton from the assembly station. The slide returns while arms pivot up from below the table to open the blank up and cooperating arrays of fingers fold and interlock the longitudinal and transverse cell dividers. During retraction, the delivery fingers are cammed outward to pass behind a carton panel which is engaged on the delivery stroke.

This invention relates to an egg carton forming machine and, more particularly, to a machine for erecting cellular egg cartons from carton blanks, which machine employs highly simplified mechanisms which are easily timed, and which provide positive folding action.

Egg cartons are commonly formed of semi-rigid sheet material, such as fibreboard or cardboard which has been cut, scored and glued to provide a carton blank made up of a plurality of panels hingedly connected to form a collapsed tubular member having cover panels extended therefrom. A suitable carton of this type is shown in my U.S. Patent No. 3,244,350 and, when assembled, includes front and rear walls, a pair of bottom lwalls connected to them, each upwardly inclined to connection with an upright longitudinal divider wall formed by a pair of panels bonded together in laminar construction, and a series of transverse partitions which interlock with the longitudinal divider to form a rigid structure having a series of cells for the reception of eggs or the like. The cover panel is attached to the rear wall along a score line to fold over the tops of the eggs within the cells. Various machines have been developed to erect such cartons of this general type and have been employed satisfactorily for the purpose intended. However, such machines are generally of rather complex nature and are, therefore, rather expensive to manufacture and somewhat difficult to adjust for proper timing.

As a result, such machines are not deemed economically feasible for purchase by small egg producers, and such producers are often compelled to choose the highunit labor cost, manual folding methods.

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide machines for erecting egg cartons that are simple in construction and economical to manufacture.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an egg carton assembly machine that is easily adjusted and reliable in operation.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an egg carton forming machine which includes positive means for interlocking the longitudinal divider panel and the transverse cell partitions.

Referring now to this invention, I provide a single slide which is operated off of one cam to feed a carton blank from a hopper to a carton assembly station and simultaneously deliver the preceding carton from the assembly station to the delivery point. In addition, members on the same slide effect the interlocking engagement of the longitudinal divider and the cell partition members. Prior to this final action, however, a second cam 3,406,613 Patented Oct. 22, 1968 "ice pivots a pair of lingers upward from below the level of the carton assembly station to engage the leading edge of the collapsed carton blank and open it up into ger1- erally rectangular configuration. In this position, the bottom panels are generally upright and facing the delivery end of the machine with the bonded, two-ply longitudinal divider panels folded over to overlie openings in the bottom panel. The rear panel and the cover panel are supported in the machine platform with the front panel above it. Also in upright disposition is the top panel which is divided into transverse cell partitions.

With the carton blank thus opened, a third cam moves a cell breaker assembly forward to engage the transverse cell dividers and fold them, first through approximately 90 degrees to extend toward the bottom panel, and then by means of pivoted fingers, through an additional angle so that they will be directed toward the interlock slots of the longitudinal divider and free of the upper 'hook under which they will ultimately engage. While the cell partitions are so disposed, a fourth cam produces oscillation of another arm carrying wire-like fingers which protrude through the openings in the carton bottom panel to engage the longitudinal divider and pivot it away from the bottom panel toward upright position. At the same time, like fingers on the cell breaker assembly cooperate in folding the longitudinal divider by engaging through the bottom panel openings from the other side and on the opposite side of the fold line, so that their action is in the same rotary direction. Thus, there is a positive folding action toward engagement with the cell dividers.

After the intermediate cross cell partitions enter the slots, they are directed back into engagement with the interlock hooks by sliding along inclined surfaces in thel longitudinal panel itself forming the opposite edges of the slots which converge toward the hook portions thereof. In the case of the end panels, however, this action is effected by means of inclined, wedge-acting fingers at the end of the longitudinal divider folding assembly which engage the end cross partitions to direct them into interlocking relationship.

Then during the final increment of movement of the cell breaker assembly, after the free edges of the cell partitions engage the bottom hooks, bell-crank fingers carried on the frame are engaged by pins carried on the returning slide to swing them laterally, each pushing a slide carrying fingers transversely of the frame. The fingers on the slides push the upper portions of the dividers into firm engagement with the complementary upper hooks on the longitudinal divider.

Finally, extending portions of delivery fingers carried on the feed slide engage stationary pins to pivot them outward to move them freely past the carton during the final increment of retracting movement. Thus, when the slide starts forward to deliver the next carton blank, the fingers are released to engage behind the leading panel and carry it to the delivery panel.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the description following when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, where- FIGURE 1 is a view in elevation of an egg carton forming machine embodying features of my invention;

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of the egg carton folding machine of FIGURE l;

FIGURE 3 is a horizontal section view taken along line 3--3 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a vertical section view taken along line 4-4 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 5 is a horizontal section view taken along line 5-5 of FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 6 is apartial vertical section view taken along line 6 6 of FIGURE 5;

FIGURE 7 is a partial vertical section View taken along line 7-7 ofFIGURE 6;

FIGURE 8 is a partial horizontal section taken along line 8-8 of FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 9 is a partial horizontal section view taken along line 9-9 of FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 10 is a partial vertical view showing the feed and delivery slide and its cam operator;

FIGURE 1l is a partial vertical view showing the carton directing fingers and its calm operator;

FIGURE 12 is a view in perspective showing the operation penfor-med by the fingers of FIGURE 12;

FIGURE 13 is a partial section view of the carton cell breaker and its operating cam;

FIGURE 14 is a View in perspective illustrating the operation performed by the cell breaker of FIGURE 13;

FIGURE 15 is a partial vertical View of the longitudinal divider folder and cam operator;

FIGURE 16 is a View in perspective illustrating the operation of the longitudinal divider folder of FIGURE 15;

FIGURE 17 is a top view of a collapsed carton blank;

FIGURE 18 is a bottom View, partially cut away, of the collapsed carton blank;

FIGURE 19 is a view in perspective, partially cut away, of an erected egg carton;

FIGURE 20 is a schematic view showing the sequence of operations; and

FIGURE 21 `is a timing chart showing the relative stages of cam operation.

Referring now more particularly to FIGURE 19, the egg carton 10 which my machine is intended to erect includes a cover panel 12 with a locking flap 14, the cover panel being connected along a fold line 16 to the rear panel 18 of the cellular carton proper comprising also a pair of upwardly inclined bottom panels 20 and 22 with openings 21, 'a vertical, two-ply, longitudinal divider panel 24, a front panel 26,' and cross partitions or cell dividers 28 and 30 which interlock with the longitudinal divider 24. The longitudnaldivider panel may be formed by folding the bottom panels 20 and 22 along fold line 25 and securing the two panels together, as by means of a suitable adhesive 24a.

Certain of the cross partitions 28 have notches 32 and 34 formed therein at the tops and bottoms which engage within complementary top and bottom hook portions 36 and 38 on the longitudinal divider. This is accomplished during assembly by inserting the locking cross partitions 28 into slots 37 so that they will be directed along a camming surface 37a forming one side of the slot, and into engagement with the hooks 36 and 38. The steps of assembly are illustrated in FIGURES 12, 14 and 16, wherein the carton blan-k 10 is first opened into tubular configuration of generally rectangular crosssection (FIGURE 12); the cross partitions 28 and 30 are folded in to extend toward the bottom panels 20 and 22 (FIGURE 14); and the longitudinal divider 24 is folded upward so that the cross partitions 28 enter the slots. Engagement with the bottom hook is made by pushing at F along the joint between the bottom panels 20 and 22, and then transverse forces T are applied to move the partitions into engagement with the upper hooks 36 on the longitudinal divider, forcing them into interlocking relationship (FIGURE 16).

Referring now to FIGURE 1, the egg carton blanks 10 may be inserted in the machine 40 by stacking them in a hopper 42 including positioning posts 44 and a forward restraining bar 46 which prevents movement of all but the lowermost carton blank 10 and, preferably, the stack is 'biased downward as by means of a weighted roller 48 carried on the end of arms 50 which are. pivoted at 52 to the machine frame 454. Fromthe hopper 42, the lowermost carton blank 10 is fed forward along the table 56 4 to a folding station 58 at the end of the stroke of a feed slide 60 which is reciprocably mounted in the frame 54 as by slidable engagement of bearing members 62 thereon on guide rods 64. The slide is reciprocated between a feed pick-off position shown in FIGURES 1 and 4 to a delivery position shown in FIGURE 10 by means of a link '66 pivoted between it and the upper end of an arm 68. The arm is pivoted at 69 on the machine frame and is oscillated to reciprocate the slide 60 by a suitable linka-ge 70 including a cam follower ar-m 72 pivotally mounted at 73 on the machine frame and carrying a roller 74 which engages in the track 76 of a suitable cam 77 (FIGURE 10). v

Actual feeding of the carton blank is by means of a spring-urged bell crank linger 78 (FIGURE 4) which isurged into the protruding position shown against -a stop pin 79 by means of a spring 79a. The pin engages through an opening 56a in the feed table 56 and through an opening 21 (FIGURE 18) in the bottom panel of the carton to pull the carton forward to its assembly station 58 above the carton blank opening fingers 82 which are pivotally mounted at 83 on the machine frame 54. When the feed slide 60 returns to its initial position, the trailing cam edge 78a of the feed fingers 78 forces the feed lingers downward to below the level of the table 56 to free the carton.

Erection of the carton is initiated by blank opener fingers 80 which protrude through the openings 21 in the blank to commence opening even warped blanks by engagement of follower 81 in cam 90. Then, the carton opener arms 82 are pivoted from the position shown in FIGURE 1 and in phantom in FIGURE 4 to that shown invsolid lines in FIGURE 4 and in FIGURE 11 to engage the'leading edge 26a of the collapsed carton blank and open it into the configuration showin in FIGURE 12. This pivotal movement of the carton opening fingersis produced by means of a link 84 connected to the end of a cam follower arm 86 which is pivotally mounted on the frame at 87 and oscillated by engagement of a cam follower 88 in the cam track 89 of a second cam 90.

After the carton 10 is opened, the cell breaker assembly arm 92 (FIGURES 1, 2, 4 and 13) is swung forward into engagement with the cell partition panel 28, 30, whereby cam-like projections 93 (FIGURES 2 and 8) engage ythe cell vpartitions and fold them toward the bottom panel as shown in FIGURE 14 while similar projections 95 engage and hold the back panel in place. Near the end of the forward movement of the cell breaker, which is controlled by cam follower 96 and cam 97, the bell-crank fingers 98 pivoted thereon engage pins 98a which are stationary on the frame 54, and are thereby pivoted against the action of springs 96a to pivot the locking partitions 28 beyond 90 degrees so that they. will enter the slots 37 on the longitudinal divider 28 passing free of the upper hook 36 as the divider is folded upward.

When the partitions are so disposed, the longitudinal divider folder arm 99 (FIGURES 4 and l5) carrying a series of wire-like fingers 100 is pivoted upwardly andl rearwardly through action of cam 101 and cam follower 10 1a toward the carton so that the fingers 100 extend through the openings 21 (FIGURE 18) in the bottom panels 20, 22 to engage the downwardly folded, upper portions of the longitudinal divider 24 folding it toward the upright position shown in FIGURE 16. At the same time, a complementary series of wire-like fingers 102 carried on the cell breaker assembly 92 also extend through the openings 21 in the bottom panels to engage the lower extensions of the longitudinal divider 24 on the opposite side of the fold line 25, so that both sets of fingers 100 and 102 are working in the same rotary direction Afor positivepcontrol in erecting the longitudinal divider with the cell partitions entering the slots 37. It will be noted in FIGURE 19 that the intermediate lock slots 37 in the longitudinal divider lhave anopposing, converging cam-like surface 37a whichr guides the cell partitions 28 into engagement with the lower interlock hook 34. In the case of the end panels wherein such surfaces are not carried on the carton, this guiding, camming action is produced by plow-like fingers 104 and 105 at the ends of the longitudinal folder and cell breaker, respectively. Full engagement of the locking partitions 28 and the lower hooks 38 on the longitudinal divider is effected by means of a push bar 106 (FIGURE 4) which engages the bottom panels 20 and 22 at their fold line 21, to drive the lower hooks 38 of the longitudinal divider into firm engagement with the lock partition notches 34.

Then, with the cross partitions 28engaged in the lower hooks 38, the, feed carriage 60 reaches a point in its retractive movement wherein pins 60a carried thereon engage bell-crank fingers 110 which are pivoted on the frame, whereby the fingers swing inward against pins 112 extending from slides 114 to move the slides transversely toward each other to a position shown in solid lines in FIGURE 9. Arms or pusher fingers 115 extending from the slides engage the locking cell partitions 28 to force the notches 32 in their upper surfaces firmly into interlocking engagement lin the upper hooks 36.

When the egg carton -is being assembled as just described, the feed slide reaches a period of rest wherein bell-crank delivery fingers 116 (FIGURES 5 and 6) carried thereon are disposed just downstream of the carton. Then, when assembly is complete, the feed carriage first moves rearward a short increment carrying the extending arm of the bell-crank lfingers into engagement with a stationary pin 118 to pivot the fingers out from around the leading edge of the ca rton against the force of spring 120. Then, when the feed carriage starts forward to bring another carton blank to the assembly station, the bell-crank fingers are released and returned inward by the spring, whereby the leading panel of the assembled carton, ie., the bottom panel 20, is engaged and the carton is pulled to the delivery end of the tab'e. At that point, the bell-crank fingers engage another pair of pins 121 to pivot them outwardly and release the carton.

Referring now to FIGURES 19 and 20, the sequence of operations will become apparent from the schematic illustration and the timing chart there shown. Specifically, the operation commences (A) (FIGURE 20) with movement of the feed carriage through a full stroke carrying the carton blank with it by engagement of feed fingers 78 until it reaches a position of dwell at the assembly station 58 after approximately 60 degrees of cam shaft rotation. While the slide 60 is still at dwell, the first blank opener fingers 80 commence their movement to break the flattened blank and then the main blank openers swing up, as at (B), and just before they are fully pivoted at about 130 degrees, the feed carriage starts reversing toward its retracted position. The opener fingers remain at rest in extended position, and while so extended, the cell breaker assembly moves forward (C) so that the cam projections 93 fold the cell dividers through approximately 90 degrees. Then when the cell breaker is in fully advanced position at about 200 degrees, the bell-crank fingers 98 pivot the cell divider through an additional angle (D). Following this, the longitudinal divider `fingers move forward and the fold fingers 100 engage the longitudinal divider 24 on one side of the fold line 21 while the complementary fingers on the cell breaker assembly engage it on the other side (E), so that the longitudinal divider is pivoted toward upright position with the cell partitions 28 entering the slots 37 to be turned inward by the slots cam surface 37a. The end partition is turned inward by the plow fingers (F).

When the longitudinal divider folder is fully extended (G) at about 260 degrees rotation, a force is delivered at the bottom panel fold line to drive the cell partition into full engagement. The blank opener fingers start back down, but both the longitudinal divider and the cell breakers remain fully extended. While they are so extended, the feed carriage retracts to engage the bell-crank 6 fingers 110 which causes pusher fingers 115 to push the cell dividers laterally into Iinterlocking engagement (H). Then at approximately 270 degrees in the cycle, the feed carriage 60 commences its short, final increment of reverse movement to fully retracted position, during which the delivery fingers are pivoted free of the carton and move with the slide behind the leading panel of the carton. Then, after the cell breaker, the blank opener and the longitudinal folder are nearly fully retracted, the feed carriage commences its advance movement at about 320 degrees to deliver the assembled carton and bring a second carton blank to the assembly station (I).

While this invention has been described in connection with a preferred embodiment thereof, it is obvious that modifications and changes therein may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the claims appended hereto.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A machine for erecting egg cartons from carton blanks, each of which has front and rear panels hingedly connected to a pair of bottom panels, openings in said bottom panels, a longitudinal divider panel having slots therein hingedly connected at the juncture of said bottom panels and a top panel divided into cross partitions adapted to be received in said slots, said panels forming a collapsed tubular member with a cover panel extending therefrom, said machine comprising:

a track along which carton blanks are movable,

a hopper at one end of said track adapted to contain a stack of carton blanks with said bottom panels lowermost and said cover panels extending rearward,

a feed carriage movable below and along said track,

in a feeding stroke,

an upright feed finger on said carriage yieldably biased through an opening in said track,

said feed finger being engageable at the commencement of said stroke with the lowermost blank in said hopper to pull said lowermost blank to an assembly station at the end of said feeding stroke,

erecting fingers pivotally mounted below said track so as to swing through a vertical arc into engagement with the leading edge of a carton blank collapsed tubular member to open the collapsed tubular member into substantially rectangular cross-section,

a cell divider folding assembly including a plurality of cam projections mounted for forward movement in the direction of said feeding stroke to engage the top panel cross partitions and defiect them toward the carton bottom panels,

a longitudinal folder assembly mounted at said assembly station for movement from below said track for upward and rearward engagement,

an array of pusher rods carried on said longitudinal folder assembly to penetrate through openings on one bottom panel to engage and push the longitudinal divider during movement of said assembly so that the slots therein embrace said partitions, and

a first series of lateral pushing fingers mounted for transverse movement to engage and push certain of said partitions laterally into interlocking relationship with the longitudinal divider panel.

2. The carton erecting machine defined by claim 1 inclu ding means on said feed carriage adapted to operate said first series of lateral pushing fingers during retraction of said carriage and while said partitions are extended into said slots.

3. The carton erecting machine defined by claim 1 including:

a second series of lateral pushing fingers on said cell divider folding assembly adapted during movement thereof to engage some of said cross partitions and fold them beyond 90 from the plane of the top panel. 4. The carton erecting machine defined by claim 1 including:

a pair of delivery fingers pivotally mounted on said feed carriage at opposite sides thereof, and means engageable by said delivery fingers during iinal retracting movement of said carriage to pivot said lingers laterally free of the leading panel of an erected carton, and braking means urging said delivery lingers inward to engage said leading panel during movement of said carriage. 5. The carton erecting machine defined by claim 1 including:

second means engageable by said delivery fingers at the end of the forward movement of said carriage to pivot said fingers laterally free of said leading panel. 6. The carton erecting machine defined by claim 1 including:

a complementary array of pusher rods on said cell divider folding assembly movable with said assembly to penetrate through openings in the other bottom panel to engage and push the longitudinal divider.

7. The carton erecting machine defined by claim 1 including:

a narrow, transversely disposed member on said 1ongitudinal folder assembly adapted to engage the juncture of said bottom panel during inal movement of said assembly.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,018,396 10/1935 Burger 93,-37 2,837,982 6/1958 Frankenstein 931-37 2,935,917 5/1960 Randles 93 37 3,329,071 7/1967 Coleman 93-37 WAYNE A. MORSE, J R., Primary Examiner. 

